JENerate

~SS~

MAGIC 101… Unicorn magic is complex and powerful; spells come from the desire of the conjurer using his or her knowledge. The knowledge of everyday properties of elements, connections from one object to another and the sense of space between several places can create simple spells of conjuring, switches, and transportation. An important aspect to give the spell life is summoning your energy through your horn and releasing the compact energy to your target creating an aura connection between both your horn and target.

  Jenny, having pony knowledge of a 4-year old colt (which is not a compliment to anyone), is surprisingly an ace at magic. I couldn’t believe my eyes when she easily teleported across the room, and to the bakery to get some muffins, yum.

  “Teleportation spells are for advanced unicorns, where in the world did you learn to master it in a minute of lessons," I asked, wiping a crumb from my mouth, some of them did fall on my beard, but I dust it away.

  “Must’ve run in the family," murmured Jenny with a smirk.

  “What," I asked.

  “What," Jenny dodged, “Whelp moving on, uh how do you conjure objects?”

  “You, in full detail, think up the object and it’s properties in your mind, make sure not to leave any detail out, how about you start out staring at this quill and ink as a model," I said gesturing towards my ink bottle. It took Jenny awhile to finish staring at it and she set off to work. It was magnificent; she created an ink bottle in less than a second.

  “Great work Jenny now try to use it with a transportation spell, first you levitate it then you move around to where you want, now first try to lift it up and when you’re ready, write a word," I said, getting all excited. She tried lifting up the feather, with her aura surrounding it, but she lifted both the quill and the ink bottle.

  “Jenny… did you forget to make the ink a liquid, rather than a solid," I sighed.

~J~

  “Magic isn’t that hard if you get used to it,” I announce, more to myself then Star Swirl who is in a different room, as I practice writing with a quill. My magic was a kind of familiar blue color like I saw it somewhere from a glance, but I shook it away.

  I look back at the book Star Swirl gave me to take notes on my paper. I decided it would be easier to look at the whole book then write it down. Lifting the book up, I flip through the pages scanning every single word till the end. From memory I wrote everything in a couple of summaries for each chapter. I finish like that a few more times with the last two other books Star Swirl gave me. Once I finish I roll the scroll up and place it on top of the desk. I look up at the many books that are in each shelf that are neatly organized. I glance down at my cutie mark.

  “Star Swirl said that a cutie marks show us what we are supposed to do and what our destinies are. So what does an hourglass with a gold mist wrap around it supposed to mean?” I whisper to myself, “Hourglasses are like a timer. Father said that Time Lords are much more than what I could imagine… time.”

  “Star Swirl?!” I shouted.

  “Yes?” he replied.

  I look at the direction his voice came from, while using my magic I held the scrolls I was working on and followed where his voice was. He was watering a garden that look a little similar to the one I saw long ago except a little smaller.

  “Do you have a book on anything time related and umm space?” I asked.

  Tapping his chin he answer, “I do actually, they’re over by the hourglass over there,” pointing at the hourglass, “And the space and universe subject is over by the planetarium,” pointing towards a door that was marked planetarium. “Would you like me to help you with looking for some books you might want to read? Oh and before I forget, did you finish the first book I gave you?”

  “Oh ya here and I also finished the others you assigned me,” I added, as I levitate the scrolls in front of him.

  “I say, that was rather quick, but any who come along Jenny,” he announce as he took the scrolls and put it in his bag neatly. He trotted toward the time books with me on his tail.

***********

  It is impressive how Star Swirl has so many books, but the presentation… not so much of an impression. We arrived at a dusty little nook in a part of his library, and as he said, there was an enormous hourglass in the center.

  “So this is your time section,” I said in awe, “Though, not as much as the rest of your library.”

  “Well, time is complicated, little is known about it, how it functions, its origin, almost nothing,” Star Swirl said blankly.

  I stared at the hourglass, it’s all dusty and the supporters look rusty, but still strong. An hourglass, just like my cutie mark. Does this mean my destiny revolves around this heap of sand in glass? Probably not, but then again Star Swirl is a main researcher on astronomy, he was also named Star Swirl, does that mean… stars were his destiny from birth? I tried to shake off the feeling, but it lingers on the back of my mind.

  “Jenny are you okay, you’re seem dazed,” wondered Star Swirl.

  “No, no, I’m fine thank you, um, what is this hourglass for, is it just a decoration,” I asked.

  “The use of the hourglass has lost its meaning overtime, as I mentioned before me and 5 other colleagues work to raise the sun and moon before Celestia and Luna, that hourglass let us know when is the right time to raise them through rotation cycles of the glass, that is until the two sisters, alicorns, had the ability to understand the sun and the moon with harmony,” answered Star Swirl, “but you were right, I keep it in my time section for display.”

  While he was explaining I was transfixed on the hourglass, then I saw something flash in the glass’ semi-reflection. I looked around, but saw nothing except the little passage way towards the planetarium. I grinned, Time and Space, just then I spotted a book near the entrance. As I levitated it, I noticed there was no title, even though the book seems very important. It was a deep, but faded blue, with loose papers stuck in it and scribbles everywhere. I sat down holding the book with my hooves, before I realized that I was holding the book with my hooves, I saw many notes in the margins.

Not Complete, Error?, How does it add up?, Crazy idea, Almost got it, but on the last page a big red X was marked and in big letters was the word FAILURE.

  “DON’T TOUCH THAT!” shouted Star Swirl using his magic to send the book back in its place.

  “Why? What’s in it, and why was it a failure,” I asked angrily.

  “That book, is none of your business, do you understand?” said Star Swirl in a slightly more calm tone.

  “Fine, I won’t touch it,” I promised.

  “Good,” replied a pleased Star Swirl.

~SS~

  That was close, I thought. So instead of allowing Jenny to go in deeper with that old research of mine I steer her to the planetarium which was in my main field of expertise.

  “Wow…” Jenny stared astound at the projection of my observations.

  “This is my research of this galaxy from stars to planets which includes there information from their distance, luminosity, density, temperatures, date in which it was found and other information I labeled,” I inform proudly.

  “Wow even star charts,” sighed Jenny, “Wait… You said the sun and moon rise and set through the command of the Princesses, right?”

  “Yes of course, why,” I answered.

  “Well for most other planets, day and night appear as the planet rotates on its axis, that’s also the reason behind seasons,” Jenny explained.

  “For a pony who lost her memory, you sure do know astronomy, but yes you are correct, as I observe this galaxy, I also observe our close neighboring galaxies and it seems that they rotate and revolve around like you said, but our planet seems to be stationary,” I respond.

  “STATIONARY?!?! How do you have weather and seasons?” Jenny shouted.

  “Weather is primarily controlled by the pegasi race, and everypony helps out during seasonal changes, plus a stationary planet means more accurate star charts since the astrological figures won’t truly move,” I thoroughly explained.

  “It does kind of make sense,” she sighs unsurely, “but the physics is still funny to me.”

  “There are billions and billions of galaxies out that are different you know, and infinite worlds out there that are unique. That why I love to astronomy it shows new worlds I can discover, while studying them,” I explain, “I maybe getting old and I may not see all of those worlds but I want to discover as much as I can in this life time.”

  At first Jenny went from surprise, distance, then smiling, “Well that reminds me of someone that had a similar dream as you. You know you should meet him someday, you two would really bond over this.”

  “Him?” I question.

  “Nothing...” she sighed.

  I knew that it wasn’t nothing, but I didn’t want to pressure her.

  “It’s getting late and you look like you need some sleep, so I’m going to show you your room for now,” I declared.

  “That would be nice thank-you,” she said thankfully.

  “And Jenny, would you like to help me in town tomorrow with some items I need to gather?” I ask.

  “Sure,” she smiled.